nd myself. You know that, for a long time, there has been a
disputation between my father and the Earl of Westmoreland, respecting
the Scottish prisoners. The earl sent a small force to fight under me
at Homildon, but it was a mere handful; and on the strength of this he
advanced a claim to a considerable share of the ransoms of the
prisoners; or, since they could not be ransomed, to the custody of the
persons of the Earls of Moray and Angus. The king has now, contrary to
all reason, inflicted upon us the indignity of appointing four
commissioners, two of whom are but knights and the other two men of no
consequence, to inquire into the question between my father and my
uncle, the Earl of Westmoreland.

"Does he think that two of his earls are going to submit themselves to
so gross an indignity?--we, who are as much masters in the north of
England as he is in the south--and even that he owes to us. I have
ridden over and seen Westmoreland, who is as indignant as we are, and
we at once arranged the little matter in which we are at variance, and
agreed upon common measures.

"But this is not all. Seeing that the king absolutely refused to do to
Mortimer the same service that he did to Lord Grey, whose ransom he has
now paid--and who, by the way, has married Glendower's daughter,
Jane--Mortimer's vassals, with some aid from ourselves, have raised the
money required to free Mortimer. Now the king has interfered, and has
given orders that such ransom shall not be paid. 'Tis evident that he
determines to drive us to extremities.

"I tell you these things, in order that you may see how intolerable the
condition of affairs has become. My father and myself believe that it
is the judgment of heaven upon us, for having helped to dethrone King
Richard, the lawful sovereign of this country, and to place this
usurper on the throne. Even had Richard's conduct rendered his
deposition necessary, we did wrong in passing over the lawful heir, the
young Earl of March. 'Tis true he was but a child, at that time; but he
is older now, and we feel shame that he should be kept as a prisoner,
by Henry. Had not the king perjured himself, we should not have been
led into this error; for, before we assisted him, he swore a great oath
that he had no intention of gaining the throne, but only to regain his
own dukedom of Lancaster. It was on that ground that we lent him our
aid; and now, forsooth, this perjured usurper treats us, who made him,
as di